Wheel.



BJ G. BAKER. WBEEL.- I .APPLICATION FILBD JULY 2B, 1913.'

' /Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

heavy motor vehics am@ th@ mi@ 13"; 15;'

mammary im design a; 'whaef which WML acnes-ve' fore@ and, third., which will in soa zm sticky ground im' as mi extntgis possible 56K-damning: Tha pmb emsf hm@ suggesiwec. am of vey g; 'am mpo'tfm'ce particularly Where Sche-f which@ ex'emel'yheavy and slow :m

' the Whees.

ltate and slide @n the 15mn '111g forwm-f., T@ prev medatey below' and @maid with he am; of 'rotation -xewhaezl; AS a matter of fact neithe'x'." ik@ wheel nu? @ma gajmimd am @ver rigid zml s0 ih@ Whedsums in, :m it

sinks the ground amt .its arm of conta@ typ@- am mi ith@y sgml@ time 1s self-cleaning,

ivre? imm the dictis with respect to 'pkmgg @if the d'ir mi@ which wlll have :1H

4l., whfaa and 'seyne-mie one -irom nothe hns giving in eecf a discontinuous ring. pm-

i@ esgfl these cleats o suchglinclnw im and suchqgxra that the Whee Willi-sink into im Soi io Such a depth that haforwm cezl'of gravier will always 0me in.' sommet with the Soil at that netan; in which momes int@ @grail-@Ham with it, ghugving;

the maximum adhesiye and traetiye force andlat the same timev giving a lat area of` supporting contact., As the Wheel rotates this grouter or plate Will become more and more inclined to the soil or ground and to a vinto the ground be rotated by the rotation of the plate and this plate will pack underneath itseli' a small mass of compacted ground or soil and will press it backward and downward and tend to rotate it and finally as the part section 2-2 of Fig.l

ed thereon thel hub A1 wheel leavesthe ground it will kick over the mass of compacted soil and break it up, thus leaving the soil in broken and not in a hard compacted condition` Of. course, the weight of the wheel on the soil or ground will tend to force particles through the wheel back of the open-work rim. -These particles, however, will be more or less compacted, compressed and hard and as the wheel rotates they will be carried upward on lthe rearward sidejand allowed nally to drop back out of the wheel through the cleats in the opposite direction from the path they followed upon entering the wheel.

My invention is-illustrated diagrammatically in one form in the accompanying drawings whereinl y Figure l is a side elevation of a'wheel in Fig. 2 is a section along line Like parts are indicated by the same letter throughout the severa-l liguresl The shaft or axle A has rotatably mountheld in position by the nut A2. The hub A1 has the two flanges A3, A?. The stamped steel wheel disks B madeup of the stamped plates B1, B2 arrangedback to back are bolted to the flanges 'A3, A4 by the b'olts B3 and nuts B4. These Wheel plates are bounded by the annular reinforcing tread rings or' rims B5 which rest upon the outer flanges of the plates. The

sleeves B6 interposed between the plates B, B keep lthem in fixed space relation one to the,v other, and bolts B7 passing through these vsleeves and through the plates hold the bull gear B8 in fixed relation to the hub and the 'The gronters or tread plates or hoof plates C are arranged about the` periphery-of the wheel and may be cast in an integral` annular ring or in sections or lfastened each one separately as the casemay be vdepending altogether upon the size of the Wheel.' For a very large wheel lit would be desirable to cast each one separately, for av slightly smaller possibly in sections, and for a very lsmall wheel it might be desirable to cast the .run as one piece. In any event the sections I are bolted in position and held inside the plates B5 bythe bolts C1. Itwill be noted that these grouters or plates are inclined t'd 'thenradius of the wheel and are disposed as indlcated. They tend as they rotate forward in the direction of the arrow to suc cessively. approach parallelism with the ground at about the time when they contact the ground surface., It will be understood that the weight of ,the tractor or vehicle of any kind is substantially fixed and that such a tractor or vehicle is normally designed for service in a relatively restricted area where the hardnessor resistance or supporting power of the soil or ground is substantlally constant and` therefore one width of cleat or grouter or foot plate may be selected which will give that supporting power permitting the grouter to approach the ground substantially in parallelism with it. If conditions change it will be necessary only to' put in a wider or narrower cleat as the case may be. This may be done by removing the outer wheel plate, removing the unsatisfactory grouters, inserting others and then replacing the wheel plate. This can Abe done easily owing to the tact that the parts are only bolted together and all that is necessary is to unscrew the bolts.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows z-The wheel, when driving the vehicle forward, normally rotates in a direction as indicated by the arrow. The successive lieet or grouters are brought successively into contact with the ground and subsequently :1s-they leave the ground work it up.

l'lhe wheel can be described as a device, which hrst builds up a bank or abutment upon which to travel, and then when through with it kicks it away. Thus when theI wheel' travels over theground, it actually spades it up and leaves it in a more or less broken up condition than it found it. The inclina tion of the grouters, andthe tact that there is av free passage through the rim of the 'wheel between the grouters permits the soft dirt to pass through the iilnto a certain extent, and the wheel operates vas a self-clean ing wheel, the dirt being constantly forced through the passages into the'y interior of the wheel. Experience shows that this dirt takes the form of more or less fragmentary masses, and that as the/rotation of the wheel continues these masses or particles drop back -out through the passages through the rim. s

bearing surface that the wheel will sink into the ground to such depth that asit rotates the inclined plates come nilo parallel# ism with the ground at the same time as intenta they irst come into contact with it, the ric tion between the ground and the plate being thus at a maximum and giving maximum traction in the same Way Athat the flat bearing belt ot the capillary type gives maximum traction. The tendency of these grouters will thus be to first compact the ground and then as they rotate to gradually turn the compacted masses over, pushing Lill them rearwardly. This process continues while the grouter is in contact with the ground, and the ground or compacted particles of the ground thus turn over and as the pressure upon them is reduced owing to the further rotation of the wheel and the lifting of the grouter out of contact with the ground the compacted masses Will be upset and broken to pieces by the final action of the wheel. This desirable proportion between the Weight of the machine, the size of the wheel and the resistance of the ground can easily be maintained because such machines as this are normally sold for use in a relatively constricted area. rl`he weight ot' the machine is fixed, and the resistance of the ground in" a given neighliorhood is approximately consistent. 'l`herefore,it is only necessary to design or adjust the Wheel so that the desired sinkage will ,be had in the general average prevailing where the machine is to be used, since slight variations from the normal are not of consequence. rhis adjustment may be very easily obtained by changing the width of the grouters and the total width of the wheel tread or by changing the width of the continuous bearing ysurface or by changing the Width of both as the case may be. Preferably, however, the adjustment will be obtained by the use of removable tread plates as indicated.

In case a vwheel sinks in too far, the small tread plates will be removed and larger ones substituted. ln case the wheel ydoes not sinlr in far enough, the tread plates will, be removed and smaller ones substituted. A

As indicated in the drawings, it is desirable that the grouters be at all times when in contact with the ground beneath the surface of the ground and the grouters are thus preferably of such size that for at least a major portion ot the arc of contact with the ground they sink beneath the surface, thus giving them a very strong hold on the ground and adding to their traction possi.- bilities.

Y lt will be noted that my invention as set forth in the specification and drawing and as discussed there consists both of a wheel and the peculiar operation of the wheel and it is the peculiar operation of the wheel I have endeavored to claim as a process for it is obvious that this process is not limited to f the particular wheel arrangement which I have illustrated.

l claim: l

A wheel for traction vehicles and the like comprising a pair of parallel continuous cylindricaltread members, a plurality of intermittent separate inclined tread members lined in position between said parallel tread members, the outer edges of said inclined members heilig substantially in line with the eiiective tread surface of the cylindrical members, the inner edges ot said separate tread members being located inside the effective surface of the cylindrical tread inem- .bers, all of said tread surfaces being located 'inplanes parallel with the axis of rotation of the wheel. f

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the Apresence of two Witnesses this 17th day of July, 191.3. BRYON G. BAKER.

l/Vitnesses: l

Q. S. Sinn,

T. A. Krusell. 

